The TableField class is a standard table field for displaying the data in an array.

A table field is, by default, associated with an array of the same name. The table field's attributes are referenced using the field function. The array is of class ArrayObject, and is referenced by using the name without the field function.

If you create a table field in Workbench, by grouping fields into a table field, OpenROAD creates a default unnamed class from the data types of the fields grouped together. You can change this default association, adding additional array properties by specifying a class name in the table field's property sheet. Typically, you would use your own created User Class, to allow you to define the attributes you wanted to use. If you create the table field dynamically, you can also set the array variable and its data type dynamically.

A table field displays array data in rows and columns. A row represents one object in the array (one value from each column) and a column represents the set of values in one attribute, across all the rows.

During a drag-and-drop operation, the table row selection remains the same. However, the focus changes—depending on the mouse pointer location—to indicate which row is the drop target. Drag-and-drop also allows multiple row selection. When a user clicks the mouse while the mouse pointer is over a non-selected row, a SELECT event occurs, which enables the user to select multiple rows using the mouse. When a user clicks the mouse while it is over a selected field, a drag-and-drop operation starts. Since row selection does not change, the user can use that information as well.

A table field scrolls during a drag-and-drop operation if the mouse pointer is on the first or last visible row.

Do not use the ChildFields attribute to access the parts of a table field. OpenROAD provides a set of attributes in the TableField object that let you access each part of a table field. For a description of the parts of a table field, with complete syntax descriptions for referencing each part in your 4GL code, and a detailed discussion of dynamically creating a table field, see the chapter “Working with Arrays and Tablefields” in the Programming Guide.